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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26761573">Shackled</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruffboi/pseuds/ruffboi'>ruffboi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ruffboi's Witcher Whumptober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion Whump, Kidnapping, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, shackled</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:33:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26761573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruffboi/pseuds/ruffboi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Jaskier really, really should’ve known better to stick around when Nilfgaardian soldiers showed up in town.</i>
</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Written for Whumptober 2020</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ruffboi's Witcher Whumptober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shackled</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for prompt 01 - "shackled"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jaskier really, really should’ve known better to stick around when Nilfgaardian soldiers showed up in town. It’s just that he hadn’t been performing, had introduced himself as Alfred, a small-time bookseller and refugee moving north just like everyone else. He was <em>undercover</em>, for Melitele’s sake, and he wasn’t <em>bad</em> at it. Perhaps not the best, but it should’ve been enough for getting gossip to take back to his closest contact before meeting back up with Geralt.</p>
<p>Instead, the Nilfgaardians had, apparently, either been tipped off by a double agent, someone had recognized him and sold him out, or they’d had a better description of him than he’d thought.</p>
<p>“Really, I’m no one special!” he protested as they shackled him in the damp little cell under the keep they seemed to have taken control of. “I was just travelling through!”</p>
<p>“We know who you are, bard,” the commander said calmly as his soldiers finished locking the shackles around his wrists and ankles. The chain between his wrists was left loose for now, but the one between his feet was threaded through an iron loop in the stone floor. He wouldn’t be able to move far like this. “Former Viscount of Lettenhove, graduate of Oxenfurt, famous for his travels with the White Wolf, Geralt of Rivia.” </p>
<p>He smiled, and Jaskier couldn’t help but shiver. It was <em>not</em> a nice smile, and promised quite a bit of unpleasantness.</p>
<p>“As I told your men,” Jaskier said, trying his best to project honesty and innocence, “I’m just a—”</p>
<p>He was cut off when the commander stepped forward and backhanded him across the face, splitting his lip and causing him to stumble backwards. The chain between his ankles caught tight, and Jaskier felt his body’s continued momentum pull him over with a slow sort of inevitability, until everything rushed to catch up and he crashed to the ground, cracking the back his head on the stone hard enough that he saw starbursts in his vision.</p>
<p>“You will refrain from keeping up that pretense, bard, if you value your well-being,” the commander said mildly as Jaskier groaned in pain and squeezed his eyes shut. “We have no need of you outside of your presence, after all. And as long as the rumors persist that you are alive, you’ve served that purpose. Your <em>actual</em> survival is dependent on your behavior. Do we understand one another?”</p>
<p>"Perfectly," Jaskier mumbled. His entire head felt like it was swollen and throbbing. But he thought he understood well enough. They wanted Geralt because of his connection to Ciri, to try to get any information they could about how to collect the only remaining royal of Cintra. Jaskier wasn't here to provide information, though they might try for that as well. He was here for a much simpler reason.</p>
<p>He was <em>bait</em>.</p>
<p>"Very good," the commander said. "I'm sure we'll speak again, bard."</p>
<p>Jaskier found himself grateful for the sound of boots receding, because they took the torches with him, and left him in blessed, eye-soothing dark. He hoped, selfishly, that Geralt would hear about his capture soon, and come rescue him.</p>
<p>He hoped, and tucked his shackled arm under his head, and tried to rest.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tumblr: <a href="http://bygodstillam.tumblr.com">bygodstillam</a><br/>discord: ruffboi#9097</p>
<p>come say hi! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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